Local workers at Facebook parent company Meta are expected to find out their fate by the end of this week, as the company goes on a global firing spree in a massive cost-cutting effort.
Meta Australia employs close to 200 employees – given the company has fired close to 13 per cent of its global workforce so far, at least 15 local workers could be laid off in the Australian round, assuming percentages stay consistent.
Globally, the harshest cuts have been made to the recruitment and business divisions.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to last week’s first round of culling as “some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”, explaining that the surge of e-commerce during the pandemic led to outsized revenue growth, which he misinterpreted as being permanent.
“Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments.
“Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”
